I have been looking at other forums & discussions and it seems that PHP v7 is available for C-panel hosting but when will we be seeing any update with Managed WordPress? As I understand it, there is no C-panel under GoDaddy Managed WordPress but I would really like to test & upgrade the PHP version to monitor performance levels.

There have been discussions going around for 2 years now about this with promises from GoDaddy that it will soon be resolved, however some of these date back to 2016. The latest I saw was July 2017 where a GoDaddy support team member advised of the update for C-panel users.

Any update on Managed WordPress is appreciated. I may have to look at alternative hosting otherwise as my sites are becoming very sluggish, even with my best efforts in optimising them.

Re: Managed WordPress PHP7 version update

The Pro Plan for Managed WP hosting does allow for PHP 7.+ If you are already on a managed wp platform, migration is pretty straightforward. If you do go this route, MAKE A BACKUP before doing your migration. I use Updraft Plus and save somewhere other than the server (dropbox, onedrive....)

Re: Managed WordPress PHP7 version update

I am on the Developer Plan (which seems to be the top level) with 5 sites per plan subscription.

You mention it is quite straight forward to migrate & upgrade PHP but how do I do this? I cannot seem to find anything that suggests I can upgrade? I have no C-panel access - only access to the phpMyAdmin database.

Is there some kind of process documentation available from GoDaddy?

I often make my own backups - usually just copying the data via sftp? GoDaddy automatically backs up both the data & database as well on a daily basis. Do you think this is adequate enough?

Sorry about all the questions - I'm still quite new to the world of WordPress & PHP.

Re: Managed WordPress PHP7 version update

When you login to you account, click on managed wordpress. On the right side will be 3 dots, click it. Next, click settings>PHP version>choose the version you want. Its really that easy! Keep in mind going from 5.6 to 7.0+ is not backward compatible. Once you do it on your site, you're there. With that in mind do 2 things. 1 - Make an offsite backup (I use UpDraftPlus). 2 - Do a little homework on your plugins, make sure they are up to date, and that they are 7.+ compatible.

Also, as far as a backup for wordpress you have to also backup the database. Unless, you're pretty accomplished at keeping a good file structure and tools set for both files AND databases you might be better off using a plugin. While GoDaddy does provide backups, it is YOUR responsibility as a (developer, business owner) to make sure the backups work within your workflow environment. Do not depend upon GoDaddy to 100% be your backup solution, they should only be part of it. Adopt this practice from the beginning and you'll save yourself a ton of grief one day.

I realise you are taking up your own time to help which I greatly appreciate so any further input or advice would be very welcome.

Regarding backups - yes, I am quite vigilant when it comes to such things so I'll ensure I take the appropriate steps. I will upgrade firstly on a staging or non-critical development site before rolling out to live environments.

Re: Managed WordPress PHP7 version update

The developer hosting is a bit different right now. The Pro hosting jumps up to another level and provides a hugely improved platform. It is a bit new, and not perfect. As long as you are not doing something too wild (as I have recently) its a great platform. The progress on this platform is daily and in the right direction.

Re: Managed WordPress PHP7 version update

Basically what is happening in the WordPress world is that people are discovering it is no where as easy as it seems. For some, its like the Sirens calling with the appeal of such a "great site." Next, its "Holy COW!" what just happened here. So, as companies offer more automated services that focus upon the server configuration and management you are really paying someone to do something you'll need to allocate time for on other platforms. The next extension of being on this platform and going to the Pro level is the ability to manage multiple sites from one dashboard.

What does this mean? After you determine which themes and plugins are part of your tool kit, you can update and maintain the PROGRAM portion of WordPress with a ton of automation and monitoring capabilities. As GoDaddy and many, many other hosting companies continues to roll out services that help take care of this portion of WordPress Management expect to pay for it.

My view is actually pretty simple on selecting the platform. If part of the service saves me time that I would have to allocate for me to do or pay for someone else to do, I don't mind paying an extra $20/30 per month quite honestly. So, part of the consideration is what do you really want to do with WordPress? If you're thinking about being a WordPress "provider or resource" get good help when you can. I feel like I'm paying some of the best programmers in the world right now to do some of my chores! Keep in mind I did not say they were perfect, but GoDaddy does have some of the best in the world on their teams!

Regardless of which platform you use if you have 5 sites and are using all of them, I strongly advise using the GoDaddy Pro Platform. Here's a good link and yes, its GoDaddy marketing. However, I was using the ManageWP product before GoDaddy bought it. It's good, being updated and refined, and its integrated right into the pro platform .

Re: Managed WordPress PHP7 version update

And in terms of migration, I personally use UpDraftPlus. Its never failed me. GoDaddy migration is pretty good and highly reliable. You need to follow some very specific migration steps, like turning off plugins, to make it work properly.

As far as speed, reliability. When the install goes well, you've got a great platform has been my experience. The automation part is excellent with regard to assignment of the domain and ssl, particularly if the domain is at GoDaddy. Big time saver! In addition to the 2.0 platform I also use the business cPanel and run it as a big single install into the root. VERY impressive on that platform and it has all the latest php versions. As long as you stay out of the subdirectory wp installation its stays perfect. In the event you want to go multi-site on cPanel, EDUCATE YOURSELF FIRST! Check out the courses at https://premium.wpmudev.org/academy/

Re: Managed WordPress PHP7 version update

Not sure if you've got any where with this as a few months have passed...but today I called goDaddy to inquire about this and was told NOT to go to the Pro plan as it's still in developer/beta mode and my site will be down from time to time. If I'm ok with that than I can upgrade. He advised me that I could upgrade to cpanel (which I was on in 2016 and they told me to upgrade to Managed WP) and that I would have to pay a bit more to upgrade to cpanel. But with cpanel I could update the php. What a joke. I have 3 other clients using siteground as their hosting provider and the PHP update to 7.2 was right inside my wp dashboard (i just did a backup and confirmed my themes and plugins were 7.2 compatible) and clicked installed and tested the sites after they were done. Took 2 minutes.

How long is the cpanel php update going to take? Very unhappy that the php is so outdated and to know I came onboard in 2016 and it was outdated then and they sold me on managed wordpress and now are selling me back onto cpanel. What a day!